Why do we love roller coasters? They are almost a perversion of the pleasure-pain principle. We are drawn to them even as they incite fear, get our hearts racing, turn our knuckles white and toss us around mercilessly. Then we get off and jump right back in line. Beginning in the early 1990s, roller coasters began their second Golden Age (the first was during the Jazz-Age 1920s when the wooden lattices dotted the U.S. landscape) and their numbers and variety show no signs of letting up. Why do we love roller coasters? Who knows? But, it seems, we can't get enough of them.
(Guide's note: Roller coaster favorites are more or less subjective. In my case, my home base is New England, and I freely admit to a right-coast bias.)
WOOD COASTERS
Boulder Dash
Lake Compounce, Bristol, CT
Located anywhere else, this wonderful roller coaster would still be a top favorite. Great airtime, smooth ride, relentless speed from start to finish: You name it, the out-and-back Boulder Dash has it. The fact that it is built into the side of a mountain and careens around trees and boulders, however, pushes it to the top of the list.
El Toro
Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, NJ
Opened in 2006, the adrenaline-pumping, air-time-filled, smooth-as-silk El Toro is among the best wooden coasters on the planet--except I'm not sure it's correct
to characterize it as a wooden coaster. (Its track is made from laser-cut, prefabricated,
bonded, and laminated wood sections.) Whatever El Toro is (or is not), there's no denying that it is an incredible achievement and a joyful rush to ride.
Raven
Holiday World, Santa Claus, IN
The roller coaster that proves the adage, "size isn't everything," Raven packs delerious airtime and out-of-control speed into its 90-second ride.
GhostRider
Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA
Another creation from Custom Coasters, Inc., the folks that built Boulder Dash. These people really knew how to deliver new-age wood coasters (The company went out of business in 2002). Most of their monsters seem to defy the laws of physics and somehow override the effects of friction to keep the roller coaster trains screaming until the brake run before the station. GhostRider is no exception.
Cyclone
Astroland at Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY
Sure, there may be "better" roller coasters. It's not the smoothest ride (one fan I know likened the first drop to riding down the rungs of an 85-foot ladder). But this classic is one of the originals and holds a special place in the hearts of fans. The Cyclone is nostalgic, yet surprisingly vital, after all these years.
STEEL COASTERS
Bizarro (Originally known as Superman: Ride of Steel)
Six Flags New England, Agawam, MA
Speed, airtime, G-forces: This hypercoaster gives riders the perfect combination of everything a great roller coaster should have and never stops giving it from the moment of the first terrifying drop until it returns to the station. An instant classic.
Apollo's Chariot
Busch Gardens Europe, Williamsburg, VA
There's only one word to describe the steel hypercoaster, Apollo's Chariot: smooth. And exhilarating. And one of the best coasters anywhere. (OK, that's way more than one word. So sue me.) But the operative word is smooth.
The Incredible Hulk
Islands of Adventure, Universal Orlando, FL
A launched roller coaster unlike any other. It must be ridden to be believed.
Tie:
SheiKra
Busch Gardens Africa,Tampa, FL
Griffon
Busch Gardens Europe, Williamsburg, VA
Busch Gardens Tampa introduced North America's first diving coaster, SheiKra. A couple of years later, Busch Gardens Williamsburg introduced the essentially similar Griffon, but improved on the concept by making the coaster's cars floorless. Busch Gardens Tampa then modified its cars to make them floorless also. The two parks now boast two of the most unique and wild coasters on the planet.
Nitro
Six Flags Great Adventure, Jackson, NJ
Another hypercoaster from the ride wizards at Bolliger & Mabillard (also known as B&M), Nitro is incredibly smooth and pops with huge airtime. Not quite as smooth or as near to coaster perfection as a similar B&M creation, Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, but close.
